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Founded in 2005, the team came as a replacement for the former popular club with the same name that was relocated to Mytischi and became Atlant Mytischi. As a new team, they began in the Vysshaya Liga. The team soon improved and won the Bratina Cup in 2008. These successes played in the favor of the team for its allowance in the KHL in 2008, as a replacement for Avtomobilist Ekaterinburg, which financial status worsened and ruled the team out of its admission.

The last minute admission in the KHL played against the team. Although sportively speaking more legitimate candidates for a promotion than Avtomobilist (Khimik won the Vysshaya Liga's championship over Avtomobilist, after all), in the facts, the team found itself too small for the KHL's standards. The club's roster was strong enough to compete in the Vysshaya Liga, but by no means strong enough to compete in the KHL and despite head coachYuri Novikov's early firing, to be replaced by Gennady Koroteev, nothing improved at the club, and eventually Khimik finished 24th and last of the league, a single point behind Vityaz Chekhov. Many players were shipped out as finances proved difficult. Denis Kartsev, Alexei Petrov, Sergei Korolev, Sergei Ogureshnikov and Viktor Gordyuk were all dealt away to save on expenses; Gordyuk's departure to SKA St. Petersburg stripped him from his chances of establishing the national record he was able to reach: that of being the oldest player to be top scorer of his club. At the end of the season, though several other teams suffered from financial difficulties, Khimik was sent back to the Vysshaya Liga, where it would be more fit competitively, while Avtomobilist was named to take its place - the place it had been granted in the first place.